For most U.S. adults, a mobile device is a constant companion. You use it throughout the day, in multiple physical locations, and you also probably check it one more time before going to sleep at night.
So defining mobile as a channel, strategy or technology doesn’t quite do it justice; mobile is how we behave. It is how we live, research, document, and communicate.
The point is: if you are a marketer and are not considering how to reach your target audience on mobile, you are missing a large portion of their day.
Mobile can no longer be ignored by marketers who want to succeed and thrive in the new healthcare marketing landscape.
How consumers use technology and the impacts on their lives
Digital Marketing Guide: Mobile Marketing for Medical Technology Companies
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For most U.S. adults, a mobile device is a constant companion.
You use it throughout the day, in multiple physical locations, and you
also probably check it one more time before going to sleep at night.
So defining mobile as a channel, strategy or technology doesn’t quite
do it justice; mobile is how we behave. It is how we live, research,
document, and communicate.
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The point is: if you are a marketer and are not considering how to
reach your target audience on mobile, you are missing a large portion
of their day.
Mobile can no longer be ignored by marketers who want to
succeed and thrive in the new healthcare marketing landscape.
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But what is considered mobile marketing?
The Mobile Marketing Association defines mobile marketing as a set of
practices that enable organizations to communicate and engage with
audiences in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile
device or network.
5. Why Mobile? Why Now?
• Of those adults who own cell phones, 53% now own smartphones.
• About 31% of cell-phone owners have used their phone to look for
health information.
• In a comparable national survey conducted two years ago, only 17% of
cell phone owners had used their phones to look for health advice.
• Today 86% percent of clinicians now use smartphones in their
professional activities, up from 78% in 2012.
• In addition, 53% use tablets at work, compared to 34% last year.
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6. Why Mobile? Why Now?
A mobile device is arguably the closest you can get to your
customer, without coming face-to-face.
There is no other device as personal (everybody has their own
individual phone)
As pervasive (we have them with us all of the time),
Nothing else provides the opportunity for proximity (we hold
them in our hands and keep them in our pockets or purses).
As marketers seek to understand and leverage the customer’s path
to purchase, mobile devices have the potential to be a
tremendous enabler.
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7. Why Mobile? Why Now?
Compared to other digital tactics, mobile marketing is in its infancy.
So it's no surprise that the Grey Matter Marketing Digital Marketing
Survey revealed that, while medical technology marketers
understand the value of mobile, with more than one-third reporting
that mobile was "very important" or "extremely important" to
their overall digital marketing strategy, 43.6% are not currently
engaging in mobile marketing tactics.
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8. Why Mobile? Why Now?
Outside of mobile web, very few survey respondents reported any mobile
marketing initiatives. According to the survey, mobile marketing activities
included:
• Mobile web 39%
• QR codes 28%
• Apps 19%
• Text messaging 10%
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9. Why Mobile? Why Now?
With half of the audience active on mobile today, why is
there so little focus on mobile marketing?
The simple answer is, mobile marketing is tough!
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10. Why Mobile? Why Now?
• Mobile marketing is complex and has a learning curve even for
those well-versed in non-mobile strategy.
• It is all-encompassing — , it's an entire way of life, one where
people are engaged all day, every day.
– New tactics must be learned and adapted, and campaigns must be useful to
consumers without requiring them to change their behaviors or endure
inconveniences.
• And a mobile strategy cannot be static — it must adapt, and it
must continue to adapt to and anticipate shifting demands.
As a result, businesses seem to get stuck asking, “What can I
actually do to market my company effectively on mobile?”
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12. What Med Tech Marketers Need to
Know About Mobile Marketing
With mobile marketing, there are many factors to consider
and strategies to choose from, but fortunately, the basic
principles are common-sense.
• You need to adapt to customer expectations by meeting
them where they are,
• Make it easy for them to interact with your online
presence, and
• Provide them with relevant, helpful, up-to-date
information.
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13. What Med Tech Marketers Need to
Know About Mobile Marketing
While there are a plethora of mobile tactics, here, we
will discuss two tactics in more depth that seem to hold
great potential for medical technology companies:
• Using responsive site design to make sites accessible and
easy for mobile viewers to use, and
• Devoting resources to developing and maintaining mobile
apps, an important avenue for connecting with customers and
prospects.
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14. The Responsive Web
A website needs to be accessible to users when and where they look for it.
With over 50 million people accessing the web on mobile devices, it is
reasonable to assume your consumer will expect a functioning mobile
website. If your website cannot provide a seamless user experience on a
mobile device, 40% of people will choose another result.
Responsive web design (RWD) is a new design approach that aims at
crafting websites to provide an optimal viewing experience — easy reading
and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling —
across a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and
laptops.
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15. The Responsive Web
A responsively designed website allows content to exist in only one
place on the internet, with a single URL.
You don't have to manage content or divide page rank or back-links
across multiple sites, as you do when you use m-dot sites for
mobile.
If that's not enough to convince you, even Google is now
recommending responsive design for mobile-optimized websites.
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16. The Responsive Web
Most importantly, RWD is forward thinking; it adapts based on
the size of the screen so it is naturally ready for devices that have
not been released yet. When the next version of the iPhone is
released, for example, you will not have to re-code your site to suit
the screen size. This makes Responsive Design well worth the
investment.
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17. The Responsive Web
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A Small Screen Needs a Large Focus Mobile screens
have fewer distractions and less real estate.
Companies should provide simple, easily actionable
mobile interfaces. If users have to go through
multiple steps to complete a task or access
information, they will typically leave or, if the site is
not responsive, download the desktop site. The best
mobile interface is focused and
outcome-oriented.
18. To help you make the case for mobile marketing, here are some
facts and figures that show how vital mobile is to your
organization.
THE CASE FOR MOBILE
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19. Video represents a
majority of activity on
mobile devices
By 2018, mobile video will represent 69%
of all mobile traffic, which is an increase
from 53% in 2013.5 Last year, users
watched about two hours of video per
month on their mobile phones.
Video is a viable option for medical
technology marketers to reach their
audiences, especially at the scale of mobile.
It caters to the different consumption
patterns of users, develops messaging that
can meet the nuances of various platforms,
and can help build long-term relationships
with your customers.
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20. Facebook mobile
users exceed
Facebook desktop
users
Facebook recently reported that it has one
billion monthly active users on its mobile
app.
With Facebook’s large network of all types
of users, as well as comprehensive
targeting capabilities to reach them, it has
potential to be a powerful channel to reach
your target audience on mobile.
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21. Mobile searches
result in immediate
action
According to iAcquire, 70% of mobile
searches lead to an action on a website
within an hour.
People are constantly seeking information,
so it is vital that a site is optimized to be
viewed on mobile devices.
This also suggest mobile searchers are
more motivated than their counterparts
using desktops and laptops.
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22. Brands are more
trusted on mobile
People believe brand messages are more
trustworthy when received on a mobile
device than other personal communication
devices because mobile users self-identify
with their mobile devices.
They are invested in these devices, which
translates into trust—people typically trust
themselves, leading them to also trust
things they self-identify with.
Research has demonstrated that branded
content that would elicit a neutral response
on any other platform leaned positive when
it was viewed on mobile devices.
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23. App Based Marketing
The number of mobile health apps is on the rise and predicted to
grow for the foreseeable future. One-fifth of smartphone owners
have at least one health app on their phones. Exercise, diet, and
weight-management apps are the most popular types. Some tech-savvy
doctors are even helping their patients choose apps,
essentially “prescribing apps.”
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24. App Based Marketing
In 2013, the regulatory environment for mobile health apps improved. The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicated it would take a limited
approach to regulating medical and mobile app developers. The FDA
stated that the focus would fall on products that pose a potential risk to
patients, while exercising enforcement discretion over medical devices that
pose minimal risk to people.
Like the draft guidance issued in 2011, the final guidance states that the
FDA intends to regulate mobile apps when they meet the lawful definition
of a “device” and when they are intended to be “used as an accessory to a
regulated medical device or transform a mobile platform into a regulated
medical device.
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25. App Based Marketing
Patients and physicians alike are drawn to apps that provide something of value, are
convenient, and are useful when used regularly. Here are some ways medical
technology companies are incorporating apps into their marketing systems:
• Providing a simple way to consume your marketing materials, such as videos
and brochures
• Helping patients manage a disease state “on the go,” instead of at their desktop
• Creating calculators and other tools to help them assess their condition or
knowledge of a disease
• Personalizing the experience of products to the needs of the individual patient
• Communicating with a user base, inviting them to learn about other products or
to take part in limited-time offers
• Managing the messages that the field sales force delivers on smartphones or
tablets during the sales call, keeping materials current and focused
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26. App Based Marketing
Keep in mind that apps do not replace professional medical
evaluations or diagnoses. They are also not a “set it and forget
it” tactic.
Apps need to be monitored and must evolve over time, just as your
product would. A smartphone app is a direct connection to your
customer, whether you market to physicians or patients, and an
app is not erased from users' phones simply because the developer
stops updating it.
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27. If Nothing Else
The conclusion is simple: mobile is here to stay. If forecasts are correct,
mobile will soon eclipse desktop usage. Smart marketers are getting ready
for this sea change — and many are already using these new techniques
to their advantage, even as we speak. People strongly identify with mobile
devices and search for health information more and more — and, notably,
they trust what they find on mobile devices more than information they
find on their computers.
A robust strategy that takes these things into account and prioritizes
responsive website design, places a focus on mobile apps, and responds to
the overwhelming popularity of video on mobile devices is an important
part of a comprehensive marketing effort as we advance into the mobile
future.
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ABOUT GREY MATTER MARKETING
Grey Matter Marketing is a full-service, award-winning marketing agency working exclusively
with medical technology companies. We provide the marketing architecture to build strong
connections with providers and patients to drive adoption of innovative technology that
improves lives. We have a proven track record in developing both traditional and digital plans
that create compelling marketing experiences and drive business results. Our strength is
finding the important truth in any communication effort, and translating that truth into
something your customer understands, and more importantly, feels. Armed with this
knowledge and insight, we roll up our sleeves and do what we do best: work hard, think
strategically and deliver.
If you are interested in learning more about digital marketing as it relates to
medical technology companies - including the latest trends, ROI, and how to sell-in
digital marketing to your management team - we're offering readers a free
phone consultation. email us at info@greymattermarketing.com